Facies character and depositional architecture of hydrothermal travertine slope aprons (Pleistocene, Acquasanta Terme, Central Italy)

Abstract

Hydrothermal travertines develop various depositional geometries, from tabular to high-relief mounds or aprons with steep slopes, under the control of local topography, location and geometry of the vents, fault activity, hydrology, water physico-chemical properties, rates of thermal water flow and carbonate precipitation rates. This study focuses on two Pleistocene, tens of metres thick, travertine slope aprons accumulated on fluvial terraces in the Tronto River Valley (Acquasanta Terme, Central Italy) to investigate their facies character, geochemical signature, porosity and evolution of the depositional geometry through time.The two travertine aprons consist of four aggradational-progradational units, vertically and laterally stacked with onlap and downlap stratal terminations, separated by erosional unconformities produced by events of non-deposition and erosion, due to temporary interruptions of vent activity, shifts of the vent location and/or deviation of the flow directions. The travertine units include various depositional environments: 1) smooth slope, 2) terraced slope with metre-scale sub-horizontal pools separated by rounded rims and vertical walls, and 3) sub-horizontal, tens of metres wide ponds. Smooth slope clinoforms are made of centimetre to decimetre thick layers of crystalline dendrite cementstone, laminated boundstone and radial coated grain grainstone, precipitated by fast-flowing water on inclined substrates. Rims and walls of terraced slopes are built by crystalline dendrites and laminated boundstone. Sub-horizontal layers of terrace pools and ponds consist of facies precipitated by slow-flowing to standing water (clotted peloidal micrite dendrite, coated bubble boundstone, raft rudstone) associated with radial coated grains and laminated boundstone. Carbonate coated reeds occur in distal ponds adjacent to toe of slopes or overlie packstone/rudstone with travertine intraclasts and substrate extraclasts, marking events of subaerial exposure and erosion. Travertine facies porosity and permeability range from 4 to 21% and 0.03 to 669 mD, respectively, showing no direct correlation. Stable isotope values (δ13C: 5.7–9.3‰; δ18O −9.6‰ to −12.2‰) are similar to other travertines precipitated by thermal water in Central Italy.This study identifies the centimetre-scale travertine facies variability linking it to the environment of deposition and to the depositional geometry of travertine units affected by the substrate topography and lateral shifts of the active springs. Despite the different scale and facies composition, the geometry of aggradational-progradational units of travertine aprons might resemble marine flat-topped high-relief carbonate platforms. Travertine units in the subsurface, if present with sizes that can be seismically resolved, might be wrongly interpreted as carbonate platforms with steep slopes without a detailed facies analysis.